Portable street crossing bridge



July 27 1926.

S. H. BINGHAM ET AL PORTABLE STREET CROSSING BRIDGE Filed April 14 J 1925 3 Sheets-Sheet 1 July '27 1526.

9 2 9 0a M 3 s 9 Ru e 1 .m S 3 E G D LM A E 11 M 04 GTH NEP- [H W BT w El um SA T R O P July 27 1926.

S. H. BINGHAM ET AL PORTABLE STREET CROSSING BRIDGE Filed April 14 1925 3 Sheets-Sheet 5 Patented Julia-1,1926.

' UNITED STATES A EN OFFICE 51mm?- n. anism up an'rnun c. m iimra i, or NEW-YORK, N. Y.

ron/rum s'raanr-cnossme BRIDGE.

, animation a m April 14, ms. Serial m. 22,959.

. Other objects will appear hereinafter, and" we attain these objects'by the construction illustrated in the accompanying drawings,

in'which:- 1

Fig. 1 is a view inelevation showing the bridge structure in position. I

Fig. 2 is a side elevation of one of the two com lementary members, showing the bridge f0 ded and ready for transportation.

Fi 3 is a view of the complementary mem r showing traction means; and Fig. 4 is a view showing one form of steering means.

Like numerals refer to similar parts throughout the several views wherever they occur.

The danger to pedestrians in crossing crowded thoroughfares is well recognized, and it is our purpose to lessen this danger in a practical and comparativel simple manner. By use of a portable bri ge structure of the type herein disclosed, we rovide means whereby pedestrians are ena led to proceed on their way and safely cross a street without danger of being struck by an automobile. By providing means for transportation, the structure. may be easily and quickly moved to points of greatest congestion and thereby relieve trafiic at such points.

In the accompanying drawing, we have illustrated one form of construction which embodies our invention as applied to a portable foot bridge of steel construction,

ut obviously our invention is not thereby limited to the particular construction shown. As a practical application of our invention, we provide two complementary structures which, for convenience, we will designate the right hand member A and left hand member B respectively. These members are substantially duplicates of each other, except in certain minor details to be noted later. A detailed description of all the duplicate parts will therefore not be neces- By referring to Fig. 1, it will be noted that the bridge sections 10 or 10" are pivotally mounted to swing on uprights or frames 11' or 11", which areappropriately braced by cross beams 12 or 12, reinforcmg braces 13' orl3", and the base or chassis frame 14 or 14".

guide, wheels 16 or 16". The upright frame members, the reinforcing members and the braces are firmly united by the approach stringers 17 or 17 on which are provided The latter carries the truck driving wheels 15 or 15 and the.

stair steps 18 or 18. and guide rails 19 or 19"; Folding steps 20" or 20 may be provided to-extend to the sidewalk 45 or 45". The bridge members 1O or 10" are raised or lowered by arms 21 or 21? and cables 22 or 22 operating over pulleys 23" or 23", by means of suitable hoisting mechanism 25 which consists of the drive clutch 31 and the worm drive 26 operating in a gear'27. The hoisting mechanism is operated by. drive gear 28, or the like, which is. driven from a source of power, as a gas engine diagrammatically represented at 29. The engine also provides the motive power for moving the structure through the driving mechanism 30, clutch device 32 and worm drive 33 and 34; This mechanism is controlled by any convenient means, as foot lever 35 and brake lever 36 from the platform 37. The steering is done by means of the steering wheel 38, gear connections 39 and 40, worm gear 41'and 42, to operate the guide wheels 16 through the steering knuckles 43.

It will be noted that levers 35 and 36 and the platform are hingedly joined so as to permit raising and fastening them by a hook 44 and thus providing a passageway when the device is in position on the sidewalk 45 or 45".

To place the bridge structure so as to span a thoroughfare, for example, the two members are wheeled into position with the smaller, or guide, wheel on the sidewalk and the larger, or drive, wheel in or near the gutter. The bridge sections are then hoisted from the position shown in dottedlines and at which position struts 46 and 46 hold these sections during transportation. This hoisting is donev by means of the hoist 25, described above, which is put into operation by a control 47, thus raising. the

respective sections into engaging position so that the notch finger 48 engages the lock rod 49 of the respective sections 10 and 10". Section 10 is further provided with an overlapping bridge portion 50 to provide a smooth and sa e floor. Section 10 is further provided with a number of differntly spaced lock rod ears 51, 52, 53 and 54 for varying widths of crossings.

Having now described our invention,

what we claim asnew and useful, of our own invention, and deslre to secure by Letters Patent, is

'1. In a bridge structure, a bridge platform, means for supporting said platform, said supporting means including frame 5 members and inclined stringers, steps on said stringers, and means for bodily moving said supporting means and said platform.

2. A portable bridge structure com rising complementary bridge members each aving an arm extension, supporting members on which said bridge members are mounted to swing, a hoisting device on said supporting members, said hoisting device having a cable attached to the end of said arm for swinging each of said bridge members, and means to transport said supportingmembers' and said bridge members.

3. A portable foot bridge structure comprising complementary bridge members each said supporting mem ers and said bridge prising "complementary bridge members having an arm extension, supporting means including uprights and stringers having a pivot on which each of said bridge members' are mounted to swin means to transport members, and means attached to said arm extension to hoist and lower said bridge members.

A portable foot bridge structure comeach having anal-m extensipn, 6

ingto said arm extension for controlling the position of each bridge member independently of the other, wheels on said supporting means'for moving the same, and means to guise one or more of said wheels.

porting members on which said bridge members are mounted to swing, wheels on said larly disposed portable bridge structure oomprising complementary bridge members, sup-' supporting members to move said members i.

from place to lace, said supporting members having inc ine'd stringers, and steps on said supporting members for crossing the bridge formed by joining said complementary members.

6. A portable foot bridge structure com prising complementary bridge members each having an arm extension, supporting members on which said bridge members are mounted to swing, a hoist device reaching from said supporting members to said arm extension whereby each of said bridge members is moved, hook devices on one of said complementary bridge members, and look I rods on the other of said members to thereby secure said complementary members together.

In testimony whereof we.have. hereunto set our hands on this 8th day of April A. D.,

SIDNEY H. BINGHAM. ARTHUR C. LE MAIRE. 

